The concept of content strategies has been around since the 1800s, though it was initially called “branded content.”
By the 2010s, content strategy had become a formal discipline. The rise of content marketing platforms, content calendars, personas, and journey-mapped content solidified its importance.
The term “Content Strategy” was further formalized, thanks in part to thought leaders like Kristina Halvorson (whose 2009 book Content Strategy for the Web is considered a key reference in the field).
By the 2020s, content strategy was evolving again. AI, personalization, and owned media empires were disrupting how content creators interact with their audiences. Brands were now expected to behave like publishers. AI (like ChatGPT) made massive content production possible, but strategy and trust remained key.
Content strategy has evolved from:
"Hey, let’s write a brochure"
to:
"Let’s build a system that delivers the right content, to the right person, at the right time, in the right format, to help them take the next step in their journey with us."
It’s both creative and operational. And it’s been around in some form for over a century. As the effort to create content drops, the competition for attention rises. While John Deere and Michelin found success with their publications, they were among the few to do so. Eventually, the space became crowded. The more defined the process, the easier it is to cut corners in delivery, diluting the impact and results.
We now live in a world where a handful of major websites dominate most of the traffic on the internet. Social media platforms, major shopping sites, news outlets, and AI-powered platforms provide the bulk of the information users seek.
AI is further disrupting the SEO landscape. In the past, users visited search engines like Google to find websites with information. Today, they can ask AI-powered systems for answers directly, pulling from those same websites. The difference? The first page of Google (the top 10 results) used to be crucial to SEO efforts. Users rarely ventured beyond the first page, let alone the subsequent pages.
Paid ads modified this dynamic in the early 2000s. Notable figures like Gary Vaynerchuk built empires off of Google AdWords. Paid ads allow businesses to position themselves above organic search results, yielding quicker results over longer-term strategies. However, as with everything, this process became more defined and diluted over time, diminishing its effectiveness.
Google has adapted by refining how they deliver answers, pulling snippets and using new category types to display results in varied ways. Now, with the rise of AI, platforms like Gemini can intelligently retrieve information and display it directly on the Google page—above search results. Google’s effort to maintain relevance in search engine ranking pages is understandable, but with many searches, those pages may seem less necessary.
AI, like ChatGPT, often returns one or two links with direct answers, fundamentally changing the competitive landscape. This has led to a new field: Artificial Intelligence Search Optimization (AI-powered SEO), Neural Search, or Semantic Optimization. So, what does this mean?
Here’s a HubSpot article discussing AI-powered SEO.
As early adopters master the techniques for ranking effectively with AI, the content landscape will shift again, presenting new challenges and opportunities in sales and marketing.
Yes.
The landscape of content marketing is always changing, but one thing remains constant: you have to say something to be heard. While you may not be an expert in every aspect of SEO or AI-powered SEO—nobody really is—you should still invest effort into developing a solid content strategy for your brand. The key is to focus your energy on the areas that will deliver the most impact.
A content strategy is a plan for publishing content over time. Your "strategy" should be centered around a clear goal, and the content you create should reflect this goal. It’s not always about direct selling. For example, Michelin didn’t release a simple tire catalog and say, "Buy these tires." Instead, they inspired their audience to go on road trips, which naturally led to the need for new tires. In doing so, they positioned themselves to be in the right place at the right time when those road-worn tires needed replacing.
When developing your content strategy, consider your buyer personas (fictitious profiles of your ideal customers) and the stages of your buyer’s journey (e.g., awareness, consideration, decision, and delight). Clearly define your goal, then create content that drives that goal by speaking directly to the right personas at the right stages of their journey.
Repurposing content is a crucial concept in today’s content strategy world. Repurposing involves taking existing content and adapting it into new formats or for different channels. This not only extends the reach of your content, but it also improves ROI and reinforces your message across multiple touchpoints.
Repurposing content allows you to maximize the value of a single piece of content while minimizing the effort needed to convert it into different formats. The original piece of content serves as the "playbook" or script—whether it’s an article, video, graphic, or something else. From there, you can adapt it into various formats to reach different audiences.
This approach extends the lifespan of your content by making it accessible to a wider range of people. Some individuals may prefer a long, detailed article that dives deep into your product or addresses an industry problem. Others might not engage with such an article but could respond well to a video that conveys the same information. Then, there are those who prefer something more concise and visually appealing, such as an infographic. The possibilities for repurposing a single piece of content are endless. And if you ever run out of ideas, you can always adapt the original content across new concepts.
A single, high-quality piece of content has the potential to build an entire content ecosystem.
However, it's crucial to invest time in understanding your buyer personas. Knowing how your audience prefers to consume information is essential when developing a content strategy that involves repurposing. Don’t waste time creating content in formats that don’t appeal to your target audience.
When it comes to content, it's not just about the quality of the information—it’s also about the process you use to develop it. While your content needs to be valuable and relevant to your target audience, you also need to focus on how you create and distribute that content. A well-defined content process ensures that your content is not only high quality but also efficient and effective.
Here are some key questions to consider when developing your content process:
At its core, a content strategy revolves around identifying the long-tail keywords that should anchor large bodies of content (such as pillar pages or content silos) and determining the supporting topics you can write articles or blog posts about to reinforce those keywords.
To begin your content strategy, you need to plan how you'll approach content creation. For tools, Google Search Console can provide insights into the keywords that are driving traffic to your site. While the value you find here depends on your current SEO status, it can be a useful starting point for discovering potential keywords.
Alternatively, you can ask ChatGPT. By providing a solid description of your product or service and your goals, ChatGPT can suggest long-tail keywords and topic clusters that are relevant to your business. This can be an excellent way to get the ball rolling on content ideas.
When it comes to organizing your content ideas, I recommend using a mind-mapping tool like Whimsical, though there are plenty of other brain-mapping tools online. A tree diagram format can help you visualize your topics and their relationships, making it easier to track your efforts.
Once you’ve mapped out a good amount of topics, it's time to schedule. Prioritize which pieces of content are most important and tackle those first. Decide which formats you’ll create—be it articles, videos, infographics, etc.—and set realistic expectations around how long each will take. Then, add everything to a content calendar and begin executing.
Content generation is the actual creation of the content. This could involve writing blog posts, shooting videos, creating graphics, or even recording podcasts or singing. The possibilities are vast, and the formats you choose should align with your content goals and audience preferences.
While creating content manually is highly recommended, especially in today’s landscape of AI and AI-Powered SEO, it’s not always strictly necessary. However, think about it this way: If AI creates content for you, it may not reference your content again once it’s published. For this reason, it’s crucial to take the time to develop your content thoughtfully—whether that’s done solo or as part of a team. You can use tools like ChatGPT and Google to quickly gather references and facts to help strengthen your content, but always ensure that the final piece reflects your authority and expertise.
While AI tools like ChatGPT can assist with proofreading, editing, fact-checking, and adjusting tone, they aren't a substitute for creating high-quality content. AI can be particularly helpful for catching spelling and grammar errors, verifying claims, and enhancing readability, but it’s still important for you to guide the overall narrative.
One area where AI falls short is creating certain types of media. While AI can generate text, it won’t create infographics or produce videos for you—at least not yet. As challenging as content generation can be, finding affordable and time-efficient ways to repurpose that content for different mediums could be an even bigger challenge. That said, repurposing content is important—especially for your most successful pieces.
You can hire contractors who specialize in design, video editing, and other content creation tasks. However, this does require a budget. For example, an infographic design might cost anywhere from $150 to $1,000, depending on the complexity and the contractor’s skill level. Similarly, editing a 5-minute video could range from $100 to $5,000, with the price reflecting the project's complexity and the editor's experience.
Let’s take HubSpot as an example. Despite being a multi-billion-dollar company, their training materials are surprisingly low-budget. The content is effective and high-quality, but it's simple, with no flashy effects or unnecessary frills. In fact, I believe they intentionally keep their videos basic as an example for their users: you don’t need to break the bank to create quality video content.
For example, HubSpot’s videos typically feature a simple camera setup and a microphone, along with a display area for slides. The slides are often free-use stock photos (with credit given to the source) or slides repurposed from other content. The presenters in these videos are HubSpot employees themselves, showing that you don’t need a fancy studio or a huge production team to produce impactful video content. Their streamlined approach is not only cost-effective but also demonstrates that it’s possible to create quality video content without a massive budget.
The key takeaway? You can do this too. With the right tools and planning, you don’t need a huge budget to create professional-quality content.
When developing your content strategy, it’s crucial to consider its ability to attract prospects to you. Your content should be attractive, authoritative, and informative. Pay attention to the stage of the buyer’s journey for each repurposed version of your content. Tailor it to attract the right buyer persona at the right time and stage of their journey.
By filling all stages of the buyer’s journey with multiple pieces of content—across different mediums—you ensure that you're prepared to engage prospects, no matter how they find you. Your content should always hint at the next step in their journey, but avoid a direct “buy now” call to action until they’re close to the decision stage or have expressed intent to purchase.
Both SEO and AI-Powered SEO are important, but inbound content focuses on providing valuable information to the right customer at the right time. It’s about meeting your audience where they are and delivering content that aligns with their needs and search intent.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t only happen through search engines. Paid ads, social media, webinars, online events, and even word of mouth are all excellent avenues for getting your content out into the world. Take an inbound approach to content development and distribution. Create content that people genuinely want and need, make it easy to consume, and ensure it’s visually appealing.
Marketing content has evolved over time, and it continues to change. However, the core principles remain the same: people don’t want to be sold to—they want to be helped. Position yourself as an authority in your field and provide value beyond just the products or services you offer.
Be strategic in developing your content by using pillars and topic clusters to create a comprehensive web of supporting information around your core content. Repurpose that content across different mediums to maximize its reach and impact.
Always optimize your content for search engines and stay alert to emerging AI-driven search strategies as the market develops. But above all, remember that you’re creating informational content to drive inbound traffic to your brand.
You’re not writing for search engines, AI, or social media—you’re creating content for your ideal customer. Your goal is to help move them along their buyer journey and provide the answers they need, when they need them, in the format they prefer.